Carl barus



NITE STATES I ATENT Orrrcn.

TOP.

SPECIFICATION forming part oi Letters Patent No. 541,802, dated June 25, 1895.

Application filed December 19, 1894:. Serial No, 532,354. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, CARL BARUS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented an Improvement in Tops, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, showing parts thereof.

My invention is a top, consisting of a form of top to be hereinafter described provided at its lower end with a marking stylus (as for instance a lead pencil ora slate pencil), and a tablet (as for instance a smooth sheet of pa per or a slate) on which the stylus is allowed to mark during the spinning and rocking motions of the top. Whenthe top is in rotation about its own axis of figure, and when this axis is placed obliquely to the plane of the tablet, the top as a whole swings in the well known Way (precession) about a movable axis, which in its turn is both in rotational and in translational motion. The stylus therefore traces a series of exceedingly .beautiful and delicate curves, of an order ranging from complex spirals to complex cycloids or curves having this appearance. The figure obtained depends among other things on the inclination of the tablet to the horizontal, on the form of the writing point, on the obliquity of the axisof the top to the plane of the tablet, &c.

I give in Figures 1 and 2, sectional elevations of two forms of tops with which I have obtained good results, without however wishing to limit myself to these constructions.

Fig. 1. may be described as a Wheel, and a a is a heavy rim as of wire one-eighth inch thick, and six inches in diameter, "6 t a web as of tin plate joining a a with the hub c. This hub is axially perforated, and a round rod d, preferably providedwith a head and retained in place by two enlargements h and 1), passes through the upper part of the perforation, for the purpose of serving as an axle by the web it to the hub c, the whole insuring slow and regular nutation. The hub o i is drum shaped so that a string may be WOlllld around it for spinning the top. The axle around which the wheel is free to rotate, is a round rod d (preferably provided witha handle), and is rigidly joined at the lower end of the rod to a short end of tubing or nipple e, large enough to receive an ordinary pencil f snugly. Finally 9 is a flat tablet on. which the pencil f traces the figure. By removing the handle, the axle d, e,f can be withdrawn from the top for easier packing.

I I have been informed that spools have been spun on sharpened pencils thrust through them; but what I believe to be new is the association of a pencil with a top adapted to act as a writing instrument, in a way to trace the curves corresponding to the movement of the top, both in itstranslational or orbital, as well as in its precessional and nutational motion. Using the wordblunt. to mean capable of rolling, and to refer to a pivotal end of the top capable of rolling on a tablet while the top is spinning,

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A toy consisting of a form of top, provided at its lower end with a blunt pencil, all substantially as described.

' CARL BARUS. Witnesses:

A. HOWARD CLARK, R. LUTHER REED. 

